Writing the book was fun. The main character, Anna, turned up inside my head one day and started talking to me (a bit like Anna's sister Chloe turns up inside her head, but for a very different reason...)
Anyway, yes. Writing it felt like giving Anna free rein, discovering who this 12-year-old was and why she was obsessed with her twin sister being inside her head - or 'sharing her body', as Anna puts it.
Being accepted for publication was thrilling too. Phoenix Yard Books, a new children's publisher, liked it and so, they assured me, did the children they tried it out on. Wonderful. I'm eternally grateful and they are doing a great job for me. I'll have a copy of Coping with Chloe in my hands any day now and I can't wait.
But what terrifies me is all the other things that go along with writing for children. It seems that many children's authors visit schools to talk about their books. I haven't been inside a school since my last parent-teacher meeting (as a parent) in about 1998. I've heard some horror stories about what (some) schools are like nowadays. Though I'm sure that most of the teachers and students are wonderful people, I'm shaking, nonetheless.
I've done signings in bookshops for my previous two books, which are for adults. They were fun occasions, with friends dropping by to chat and the occasional member of the public being inveigled into accepting a bookmark. I've given talks at universities and in libraries. I've given presentations, come to that, at academic conferences with dozens of people in the audience.
But there's something scary about kids. Maybe, as a writer, I'm scared they'll see through me. See what? I'm not pretending to be anything I'm not...
Or am I? To write for kids, I think you have to pretend to be one. Pretend to yourself, that is. Or remember what it was like. Get back in touch with the child inside you (mine is never very far away).
That's what I'm scared of, then. I'm scared that the kids will see the kid inside me and not like her. That I'll get bullied in the playground all over again.
Yes, that's it. Well, I know what I'm afraid of now. Just have to face my demons. At least I've got a few adult defences to help me, this time round.
Coping with Chloe by Rosalie Warren. Published March 21st 2011, by Phoenix Yard Books.
See Chloe on Amazon
5 comments:
Well done, Rosalie! I think I'd quite like to have to deal with the 'scary side' ... it's getting published in the first place I consider scary. Blog looks good too!
Oops, where did my comment go?
Well done, Rosalie, Blog looks good
Thanks, Ceka. I think the delay is so that I can moderate the comments before they are posted. I was on my exercise bike, hence the time lag! :)
You're right to be scared. I work with kids and they're absolutely terrifying.
Thanks, Patsy - it's always nice to have one's fears confirmed :)
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